France

France is preparing to sell the 5 percent Renault stake it acquired earlier this year to secure a doubling of voting rights for longer-term investors, Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said....Read More »

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, previously the market leader in Iran, could find it more difficult to return to the country than rival Renault following a dispute over the carmaker's 2011 market exit, Laurent Fabius, France's foreign minister, said after talks with Iranian leaders....Read More »

PSA's talks on a manufacturing venture with Iran's biggest carmaker are being undermined by anti-French sentiment in the country, CEO Carlos Tavares said. Iranians are hostile because France took a tough line in talks to lift international sanctions against Iran....Read More »

The French government plans to make it easier for drivers of electric cars to charge their vehicles by unifying certain features of the country's various EV-charging networks by decree before the end of this year, a French newspaper reported....Read More »

Sales of diesel cars in France may fall after the government excluded diesel engines from the cleanest classification of vehicle pollution. Euro 6 standard diesels will not be included in the Category 1 scheme that classifies vehicles according to how much they pollute. French cities may use the ranking system to decide whether they want to ban diesels....Read More »

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen will build the Bollore Bluesummer electric car at its factory in Rennes, western France. The boxy convertible, which has a basic design similar to Citroen's iconic Mehari, will be sold through Citroen dealerships....Read More »

Porsche won the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race for the first time since 1998, defeating Audi, which triumphed in 10 of the 11 prior contests. Porsche's 919 Hybrid car took first and second places, while Audi's R18 e-tron came in third....Read More »

Audi's R18 e-tron Quattro has won the Le Mans LMP1 race every year since the new hybrid powertrain rules were established in 2012, but this year it will face stiff competition from Porsche, Toyota, and Nissan....Read More »

New-car registrations in France fell 4 percent in May, mainly due to fewer working days. Sales rose 7.3 percent with the figures adjusted to include a comparable number of working days to May last year....Read More »

Drivy, a French firm that helps car owners rent out their vehicles, has bought a German rival in the latest sign that France is becoming a hub for the booming vehicle-sharing sector, with help rather than hindrance from the country's notorious red tape....Read More »

French vehicle sales rose 1.8 percent in April with Renault's performance outpacing its peer PSA/Peugeot-Citroen. The figures confirm the positive trend so far this year, which led industry association CCFA to upgrade its annual forecast from flat to 2 percent growth....Read More »

Renault urged France, its largest-single shareholder, to back down from plans to increase its voting weight in the automaker, warning that the balance of power within its alliance with Nissan was at risk. The Japanese automaker holds a non-voting 15 percent stake in Renault....Read More »

New-car registrations rose in France, Italy and Spain last month, adding to signs that the European auto market is recovering. France's auto industry body, the CCFA, raised its full-year forecast for the country to a 2 percent gain, close to many predictions for Europe as a whole....Read More »

PSA said it has chosen a French factory over a rival Spanish plant to expand engine production. PSA will upgrade its Tremery site to produce the turbocharged version of a three-cylinder engine already manufactured there. The plant beat out PSA's factory in Vigo, Spain, for the additional 200,000 engines a year....Read More »

Bollore will invest 150 million euros ($172 million) to roll out a charging network across France after winning government approval for the plan. The company said it will install 16,000 new semi-fast chargers in the next four years....Read More »

Jeep hopes its role as a marketing partner at the Nautic in Paris, one of Europe's biggest boat shows, will help it get a leg up in the fast-growing small SUV market. The U.S. off-road brand says it is considering partnering with the event this year after gaining “positive feedback” at last year's show in December....Read More »